This invention concerns clocks that present messages, and in specific forms of the invention, clocks, especially clock radios, that present verbal messages to wake up a person with a daily horoscope specific to the person and date, or with a message regarding an important event in history that occurred on the same date.
A previous patent of the inventor herein, U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,796, described an astrological wristwatch that stored horoscopes for up to one year and which would receive inputs of the user's birth date and time. A computer chip in the watch would select an appropriate horoscope that correlates to the current date and the user's time and date of birth, causing it to be shown on a liquid crystal display. This written display was called up when desired by the user's pressing a button on the watch.
The computer chip of the above described device, contained in the watch but replaceable, was specific to only one sign of the zodiac. On the display case of the watch was a zodiac month sign appropriate to the user.
In addition, the following patents have some relevance to the subject matter of the invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,750,505, 4,583,864, 4,659,231, 4,711,583, 4,712,923, 4,759,002, 4,766,579, 5,023,849, 5,208,790, 6,580,663, 6,791,904, and published Application No. 2005/001,3198.
The Herron '904 patent listed above describes a network, which includes the Internet and a number of servers, connecting ultimately through switching devices to a series of clock radio devices which have two-way communication with audio content servers. The user is enabled to select information to be presented via the clock radio, and the patent states this information could be entertainment, jokes, horoscope, etc.
The present invention avoids the elaborate interactive network described in the Herron patent and provides a self-contained apparatus capable of presenting messages verbally and in a cost-efficient manner.